Planting out the seedlings

I don't know what it's like all over Indonesia, but the fertile equatorial islands of Java and Bali not only host three full harvests a year, but there is no season to the cycle (though rice is best planted in the wet season, and crop rotation is often practiced in the dry season - maybe sweet potato will be grown then, or soy).

So it was that along one small country road in one day, I was able to see all the steps of the cycle - harvest; the mature grains ripening; tall green shoots with no grain yet; delicate small shoots; the planting out of the new seedlings; a bed holding the seedlings in their first days; and ploughing the muddy fields.

It's hard work planting out the new seedlings, which are tied in little bundles and flung into the drowned paddies, then separated and planted painstakingly by hand. It's work mostly done by women, who in old age are often permanently bent, with rounded spines. These women were working cheerfully and energetically in the heat of the day just outside of Yogyakarta in Central Java, stopping to wave and smile as I called out Terima kasih! (Thank you).

There are seasons to other things though, and seasonal beauties just now are avocados, rambutan, salak, sirsak (soursop), and durian. It would be fun to come back when the cloves ripen on the trees - but whatever time of year it's incredibly green here. And full of friendly smiles.